Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

I can only reiterate that the bill does not make changes to who can access the NDIS. It is absolutely the case, for parents of kids who are experiencing those kinds of challenges, that they will do anything to look after their kid. At the moment for many of them, the only pathway they see to supporting their kid at that crucial stage of development is through access to the NDIS. The minister, as you say, has used the phrase, 'It is the only lifeboat in the ocean for families who are in that position.' That is not the intention. It will not be the effect of this set of reforms that people who are accessing the scheme today will no longer be able to access the scheme.

I don't want to overwork the analogy, but the foundational supports are intended to be not just another lifeboat but a better kind of support outside of the scheme that means that participants' eligibility is founded in 24 or 25, and that goes to properly understood construction of what the NDIS is aiming to achieve. That is a good outcome for the scheme and a good outcome over time for participants because the supports will be getting better and more agile. And as you say, perhaps not lifelong supports, whether it is an education system or through community health or—that is the intention.

It is not the case that a world in which the states and territories engage in this is not credible. National Cabinet, which is a serious decision-making body of the Commonwealth, has agreed to the design of foundational supports that will be engaged by the Commonwealth and the states and territories. They will create more pathways outside of the NDIS, particularly for young children and young people and for people accessing the scheme. They will incorporate better access to mainstream services. There is more work to do as we engage with the states and territories to make sure that as this process unfolds, consistent with the agreement in the National Cabinet, that work is done in a substantial way that means that families in the future—families who will have kids who haven't come along yet—know that they will be supported.

The way that you've characterised the situation now for families is correct. We all know we'd do anything for our kids in this situation and that the NDIS is there as a beacon for those families now. We want to improve the NDIS. We want to make sure we get the foundational support stream right over time. But access for participants now—I want to be really clear to participants and their families—does not change as a result of the passage of this legislation.